Jerry Feldman wrote: > Tom Metro wrote: >> I recommend starting small and simple. If you go Z-Wave start with one >> of these: >> http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-HA07C-Settings-Wireless-Control/dp/B000BRGU2E/ > > ...it is a pain to change the setting on the time change as well as > adjust for sundown.
The above timer actually supports a sunrise and sunset timer setting, which theoretically further eliminates the need to make timer adjustments. I found the feature a bit unpredictable, and limiting because it didn't support setting an offset. (Maybe you want it to turn on later, because the sun sets later at your lat/lon. Or maybe you want it to turn on a bit earlier because it is an indoor light on a shaded side of your house that gets darker before sunset.) So I ended up just programming in fixed times, which I adjust a few times a year. Ultimately I want it to be driven by light sensors, so when you have a dark rainy day like today, the lights come on earlier. > What I would like to do more long term is to control the thermostat. > My current thermostat is good, but very few compensate for holidays. > Additionally, if I am away from home and I forget to set it for > vacation, with home automation I would be able to. Check out this thermostat: http://www.nest.com/ It costs $250 (currently sold out). Has an iPhone inspired UI (and 320 x 320 pixel color display). It learns your usage patterns so you don't have to manually program a setback schedule. The site says it has an "activity sensor" to tell when people are around, but they don't specify the technology. There's no visible PIR sensor on the face. (Specs say it has proximity, near-field, and far-field sensors, plus ambient light sensor.) It is WiFi connected and will use weather data to adjust its settings. As you'd expect it also lets you remotely control the thermostat via an account on the manufacturer's web site (and via mobile apps.). (And that likely means the feature will become useless if the manufacturer goes out of business. I understand why companies favor this approach, but I hate it. No mention of an API or hacker community, but they may exist.) Specs say it supports Zigbee wireless networking in addition to WiFi. (Zigbee is structurally similar to Zwave, and is sometimes used for home automation, but it is a general purpose communication protocol, and lacks a home automation specification, so random devices from different manufacturers don't work together. They probably use it for inter-thermostat communication so that functionality would work independent of the availability of WiFi.) While it may be the most stylish thermostat you can find, and even comes with its own stylish screwdriver, $250 is pretty pricey. And it supposedly works best when you link multiple of them together (up to 10). I imagine you'd need to spread a few around your house in order for the automatic away detection to work well, unless you happen to walk by your thermostat a lot when you are home. On the more practical side of things, you can get a GE Zwave thermostat for $60: http://www.safemart.com/GE-Security-Wireless/GE-Z-Wave-Wireless-Thermostat-IS-ZW-TSTAT-100.htm 2Gig (an alarm panel mfgr) Z-STAT Z-Wave Programmable Thermostat for $88 http://www.amazon.com/2Gig-Z-STAT-Z-Wave-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B004MM4800/ Trane for $126: http://www.amazon.com/TZEMT400BB3-Remote-Energy-Management-Thermostat/dp/B0052MHPP4/ Honeywell for $159: http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-TH8320ZW1007-Enabled-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B005EJ7YO2/ When I last looked into Zwave thermostats a few years ago, the Wayne-Dalton model was the most popular choice (due to selling for under $100), but got complaints about a cheap plastic enclosure that broke easily. Looks like it has since been discontinued. The Trane was the next option, but that the time sold for over $200. They've come out with a new model and dropped the price (reviews seem positive). The others are newer to the market. The GE one is made to work with their alarm panels and I don't see any reviews indicating whether it is generally compatible with other Zwave controllers. (I happen to own some GE alarm equipment, but don't use the Zwave functionality as they stupidly made it dependent on you subscribing to a 3rd party alarm monitoring service.) The 2Gig is also meant to work with an alarm panel, but the manufacturer explicitly says it is compatible with other controllers, such as the (Linux running) MiCasaVerde Vera controller. The reviews on it sound promising. Looks like there are a bunch of WiFi thermostats on the market now too, like: http://www.amazon.com/Homewerks-Thermostat-CT-30-H-K2-Wireless-Module/dp/B004YZFU1Q/ Probably a good bet if you just want to be able to remotely control a single thermostat and not integrate it with a home automation setup. I imagine each one has its own proprietary interface, and requires use of a manufacturer's web site to communicate with it. If you are an industrious hacker you can pair one of these Zwave thermostats with several Zwave temperature sensors, or temp/light/motion sensors: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=HomeSeer+HSM100&tbm=shop&cid=6168500570220552410&os=sellers and create the equivalent of the multi-thermostat Nest thermostat setup. For me, the most interesting aspect of a home automation connected thermostats would be heating efficiency tracking. The thermostat can report the amount of time your furnace was running (my old programmable thermostat does this, but not convenient to record that info daily/weekly), from which you can calculate fuel consumption (unless you have the latest variable-burn rate technology). Correlate that with the "degree days" statistics for the period, and you can see how efficiently your heating system is working. Then when you make adjustments to your insulation, you can pretty quickly see if that is reflected in improved efficiency. -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
